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Overview

On the Street Where You Live by Mary Higgins Clark, Jan Maxwell, Jan Maxwell

In the gripping new novel from America's Queen of Suspense, a young woman is haunted by two murders that arc closely linked  despite the one hundred and ten years that separate them. Following the breakup of her marriage and her pursuit by an obsessed stalker, criminal defense attourney Emily Graham accepts an offer to work in a major Manhattan law firm. Feeling a need for roots, she buys her ancestral home in New Jersey, which her family sold in 1892, after the disappearance of young Madeline Shapley one of Emily's forbears. Now, more than a century later, as the house is being renovated, the bones of a young woman are found in the backyard. She is identified is Martha Lawrence, who disappeared four years earlier. Cluched in Martha's skeletal hand is the finger bone of another woman with a ring still on it  a Shapley family heirloom. When Emily investigates the link between her family's past and the recent murder, she provokes a devious and seductive killer, who selects her as his next victim.

Product Details

About the Author

The #1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark has written thirty-seven suspense novels, four collections of short stories, a historical novel, a memoir, and two children’s books. With her daughter Carol Higgins Clark, she has coauthored five more suspense novels, and also wrote The Cinderella Murder, All Dressed in White, The Sleeping Beauty Killer, and Every Breath You Take with bestselling author Alafair Burke. More than one hundred million copies of her books are in print in the United States alone. Her books are international bestsellers.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One: Tuesday, March 20

He turned onto the boardwalk and felt the full impact of the stinging blast from the ocean. Observing the shifting clouds, he decided it wouldn't be surprising if they had a snow flurry later on, even though tomorrow was the first day of spring. It had been a long winter, and everyone said how much they were looking forward to the warm weather ahead. He wasn't.

He enjoyed Spring Lake best once late autumn set in. By then the summer people had closed their houses, not appearing even for weekends.

He was chagrined, though, that with each passing year more and more people were selling their winter homes and settling here permanently. They had decided it was worth the seventy-mile commute into New York so that they could begin and end the day in this quietly beautiful New Jersey seaside community.

Spring Lake, with its Victorian houses that appeared unchanged from the way they had been in the 1890s, was worth the inconvenience of the trip, they explained.

Spring Lake, with the fresh, bracing scent of the ocean always present, revived the soul, they agreed.

Spring Lake, with its two-mile boardwalk, where one could revel in the silvery magnificence of the Atlantic, was a treasure, they pointed out.

All of these people shared so much  the summer visitors, the permanent dwellers  but none of them shared his secrets. He could stroll down Hayes Avenue and visualize Madeline Shapley as she had been in late afternoon on September 7, 1891, seated on the wicker sofa on the wraparound porch of her home, her wide-brimmed bonnet beside her. She had been nineteen years old then, brown-eyed, with dark brown hair, sedately beautiful in her starched white linen dress.

Only he knew why she had had to die an hour later.

St. Hilda Avenue, shaded with heavy oaks that had been mere saplings on August 5, 1893, when eighteen-year-old Letitia Gregg had failed to return home, brought other visions. She had been so frightened. Unlike Madeline, who had fought for her life, Letitia had begged for mercy.

The last one of the trio had been Ellen Swain, small and quiet, but far too inquisitive, far too anxious to document the last hours of Letitia's life.

And because of her curiosity, on March 31, 1896, she had followed her friend to the grave.

He knew every detail, every nuance of what had happened to her and to the others.

He had found the diary during one of those cold, rainy spells that sometimes occur in summer. Bored, he'd wandered into the old carriage house, which served as a garage.

He climbed the rickety steps to the stuffy, dusty loft, and for lack of something better to do, began rummaging through the boxes he found there.

The first one was filled with utterly useless odds and ends: rusty old lamps; faded, outdated clothing; pots and pans and a scrub board; chipped vanity sets, the glass on the mirrors cracked or blurred. They all were the sorts of items one shoves out of sight with the intention of fixing or giving away, and then forgets altogether.

Another box held thick albums, the pages crumbling, filled with pictures of stiffly posed, stern-faced people refusing to share their emotions with the camera.

A third contained books, dusty, swollen from humidity, the type faded. He'd always been a reader, but even though only fourteen at the time, he could glance through these titles and dismiss them. No hidden masterpieces in the lot.

A dozen more boxes proved to be filled with equally worthless junk.

In the process of throwing everything back into the boxes, he came across a rotted leather binder that had been hidden in what looked like another photo album. He opened it and found it stuffed with pages, every one of them covered with writing.

The first entry was dated, September 7, 1891. It began with the words "Madeline is dead by my hand."

He had taken the diary and told no one about it. Over the years, he'd read from it almost daily, until it became an integral part of his own memory. Along the way, he realized he had become one with the author, sharing his sense of supremacy over his victims, chuckling at his playacting as he grieved with the grieving.

What began as a fascination gradually grew to an absolute obsession, a need to relive the diary writer's journey of death on his own. Vicarious sharing was no longer enough.

Four and a half years ago he had taken the first life.

It was twenty-one-year-old Martha's fate that she had been present at the annual end-of-summer party her grandparents gave. The Lawrences were a prominent, long-established Spring Lake family. He was at the festive gathering and met her there. The next day, September 7th, she left for an early morning jog on the boardwalk. She never returned home.

Now, over four years later, the investigation into her disappearance was still ongoing. At a recent gathering, the prosecutor of Monmouth County had vowed there would be no diminution in the effort to learn the truth about what had happened to Martha Lawrence. Listening to the empty vows, he chuckled at the thought.

How he enjoyed participating in the somber discussions about Martha that came up from time to time over the dinner table.

I could tell you all about it, every detail, he said to himself, and I could tell you about Carla Harper too. Two years ago he had been strolling past the Warren Hotel and noticed her coming down the steps. Like Madeline, as described in the diary, she had been wearing a white dress, although hers was barely a slip, sleeveless, clinging, revealing every inch of her slender young body. He began following her.

When she disappeared three days later, everyone believed Carla had been accosted on the trip home to Philadelphia. Not even the prosecutor, so determined to solve the mystery of Martha's disappearance, suspected that Carla had never left Spring Lake.

Relishing the thought of his omniscience, he had lightheartedly joined the late afternoon strollers on the boardwalk and exchanged pleasantries with several good friends he met along the way, agreeing that winter was insisting on giving them one more blast on its way out.

But even as he bantered with them, he could feel the need stirring within him, the need to complete his trio of present-day victims. The final anniversary was coming up, and he had yet to choose her.

The word in town was that Emily Graham, the purchaser of the Shapley house, as it was still known, was a descendant of the original owners.

He had looked her up on the Internet. Thirty-two years old, divorced, a criminal defense attorney. She had come into money after she was given stock by the grateful owner of a fledgling wireless company whom she'd successfully defended pro bono. When the stock went public and she was able to sell it, she made a fortune.

He learned that Graham had been stalked by the son of a murder victim after she won an acquittal for the accused killer. The son, protesting his innocence, was now in a psychiatric facility. Interesting.

More interesting still, Emily bore a striking resemblance to the picture he'd seen of her great-great-grandaunt, Madeline Shapley. She had the same wide brown eyes and long, full eyelashes. The same midnight-brown hair with hints of auburn. The same lovely mouth. The same tall, slender body.

There were differences, of course. Madeline had been innocent, trusting, unworldly, a romantic. Emily Graham was obviously a sophisticated and smart woman. She would be more of a challenge than the others, but then again, that made her so much more interesting. Maybe she was the one destined to complete his special trio?

There was an orderliness, a rightness to the prospect that sent a shiver of pleasure through him.

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble ReviewSpring Lake, New Jersey -- a beautiful seaside community with a very dark and deadly past. It was here in the late 19th century that three young women disappeared, each new occurrence taking place several years after the one before. While all the women were presumably murdered, the responsible party was never found. More than 100 years later, a new threat to Spring Lake emerges after someone stumbles upon the original killer's gruesome diary: A copycat has been born, and two more innocents have vanished. Now the time is right for the new killer to follow in his master's final footsteps -- to put the finishing touches on his own bloody legacy.

At the outset of On the Street Where You Live, Mary Higgins Clark's fascinating antagonist chooses his final prey: Emily Graham, a wealthy criminal defense attorney who has just landed a primo gig with a Manhattan law firm; quiet Spring Lake, a mere 70 miles from New York City, becomes her new home. The $2 million mansion Emily just bought may be a bit extravagant for her solitary needs, but because her great-great-grand-aunt, Madeline Shapley, once owned the home, the purchase seems right. When the killer discovers Emily's relation to Madeline, his excitement boils over: You see, back in 1891, Madeline was the original Spring Lake killer's first victim.

Soon, a horrifying discovery is made on Emily's new property, offering a clue to Spring Lake's grisly past. What Emily doesn't realize is that this discovery also offers a terrifying glimpse into her own fast-approaching doom.

Mary Higgins Clark is at her hair-raising best with On the Street Where You Live; after more than 25 years in the biz, Clark's plotting remains fresh and original, and her prose is still sharp as a knife. Chilling, engrossing, and genuinely enjoyable, On the Street Where You Live shows that the Queen of Suspense continues to work with the deftness and grace of a true master of the form. (Andrew LeCount)

bn.com

Is a reincarnated serial killer at work in a New Jersey resort town more than a century after he first drew blood? That's the catchy premise that supports Clark's 24th book. In the 1890s, three young women in the upscale seaside village of Spring Lake died at the hands of an unidentified killer. In the present day, two young women have disappeared from town and their killer, whose first-person ruminations vein the third-person narrative, is preparing to strike again. His final target will be Emily Graham, an ambitious young attorney just moved to Spring Lake from upstate New York, where she'd been victimized by a stalker. Emily is a typical Clark heroine, bright and beautiful, and the friends she makes and suspects she meets in Spring Lake are her equal in stereotype, among them a former college president with a dread secret; a failed, aging restaurateur with a much younger wife; and a hunky real-estate agent. Emily's dream of a new start in the house once owned by her ancestor the first victim of the killer of yore sours when the body of a present-day victim is found buried on her land along with remains of her murdered ancestor. The dream curdles further when more bodies turn up and Emily's upstate stalker reappears. This is a plot-driven novel, with Clark's story mechanics at their peak of complexity, clever and tricky. There's some nifty interplay between past and present via diaries and old books, some modest suspense, and a few genuine surprises, including the identity of both the stalker and the killer. Clark's prose ambles as usual, but it takes readers where they want to go deep into an old-fashioned tale of a damsel in delicious distress. The first printing is one million; that, and Clark's popularity, will be enough to push this title to #1. (Apr. 17) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

At the parole hearing for Donald Waring, Trish Duncan begins to wonder whether he was wrongly convicted of killing her sister 20 years ago. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

On the Street Where You Live 4.4 out of 5based on
0 ratings.
135 reviews.

driddled

More than 1 year ago

I love, love, love this book!!! I have read it a couple of times. . . It is by far may favorite MHC book. **Creepy and twisted and full of suspense.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Great book. I had too read a book for a school project and i decided to read this because i love mysteries. I couldnt put the book down. I finished in 2 days maybe 3 tops. If your looking for a suspenseful book chose this or any of her other books because she is goood at writing suspensful novels

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Interesting mystery. I have read several books by this author and find them all a good read. ..........i think this book is a good book for club discussion.

nana_shelia

More than 1 year ago

ANY OF HER BOOKS JUST GRABS YOU AT FIRST AND YOU CAN'T PUT DOWN.JUST LOVE HER BOOKS AND I DONATE TO LIBRARY SO OTHERS CAN ENJOY.

akc812

More than 1 year ago

Great read! I could not put it down. Read it in two days. First book I've read from MHC & I can't wait to start the next one.

mamalovestoread22

More than 1 year ago

Mary Higgins Clark is the master at writing thrilling and captivating stories!! This one had me on the edge of my seat the whole way through!! Highly recommend!

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

I guessed the killer in the first pages of the book although she threw in a variety of characters to try and throw you off the scent of that killer. The ending was short and felt incomplete after the 300+ pages of lead-in to the end. The reasons for the lead to stay in her home during the killing just didn't make sense. I wanted to see more of a relationship develop for her and it didn't. My first read by this author. Maybe my last.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

I could hardly put it down! It keeps you guessing to the very end!! Loved it.

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I had a hard time putting this down.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Another great book by Miss Mary :)

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More than 1 year ago

I am a Mary Higging Clark fan. I have read all her books but this is my favorite. I had never been to Spring Lake, even though I am a Jersey girl. I visited spring Lake after reading thia book and found it as charming as the author described it to be. Couldn't put it down.

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More than 1 year ago

This is one of the most amzing books ever! Each new twist and turn keeps your mind constantly changing about who actually did it. I literally didn't put this book down until I had read the last word. A must-read for all ages!!!

RaineAocho21

More than 1 year ago

Reading this book makes your heart beat fast. In every chapter there lies a mystery and twist that makes you somewhat think that one character would be the killer. Every character is a suspect. Emily Graham is one strong woman, yet still vulnerable from an unknown killer who thinks that he is being reincarnated because of a diary of a serial killer that he read. The details are so precise that you feel like you are inside the crime scene and the Spring Lake. The coherence of events are superb that you will find yourself fascinated. I was not able to put it down from the first chapter until I was able to finally finish the book. It really struck me when I found who the killer is at the very end.
NOTE: The regression therapy concept gave me goosebumps.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

This book is another great mystery by mary higgins clark. The characters were very hard to follow and werent very distinguished. I still dont know who was stalking her and who his accomplice was. Extremely confusing, but still a very enjoyable book. I would recommend this book but you should read it very closely and take note of all the characters and their histories.

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